President Trump Monday slammed Gov. Hochul for endorsing Zohran Mamdani for mayor, extending his effort to influence the race for Gracie Mansion.
Deriding Mamdani as a “liddle Communist,” Trump questioned how Hochul could back the progressive Democratic standard bearer.
“This is a rather shocking development, and a very bad one for New York City,” Trump posted on his social media site.
Trump repeated his threat to use federal funding as a weapon to tilt policy in Albany and New York City.
“Washington will be watching this situation very closely,” he added. “No reason to be sending good money after bad.”
Hochul endorsed Mamdani on Sunday, calling him a breath of fresh air as New Yorkers fight back against Trump’s right-wing agenda.
“New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers,” Hochul tweeted. “That’s Zohran Mamdani.”
The moderate governor jumped on the Mamdani bandwagon before fellow heavyweights Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who haven’t endorsed anyone yet.
Trump has made little effort to hide his backing of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after being trounced by Mamdani in the Democratic primary.
He derided Republican Curtis Sliwa as a cat-loving lightweight and has called for the GOP candidate and Mayor Adams to pull out of the race to clear the field for a one-on-one battle between Cuomo and Mamdani.
Polls say Mamdani leads Cuomo by a huge margin if the other two main candidates stay in the race and holds a more modest edge if it’s a binary choice. Unlike the primary, the general election is a traditional race with no ranked choice voting.
